‘The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case’ review: A balancing act between fact and drama

The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case takes a while to find its tone. The show’s prosaic title is the first indication of a balancing act between well-publicised facts and dramatisation, subtext and context, the thin line between justice and retribution.

The Sony LIV series follows the Central government’s investigation into Rajiv Gandhi’s horrific death on May 21, 1991, in a suicide bombing carried out by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam member. Gandhi was campaigning in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu for the Lok Sabha election. His Congress party had been voted out of power, and he was aiming to return as the head of state.

Gandhi’s gruesome demise was blamed on a misguided policy decision during his prime ministership: sending the Indian Peacekeeping Force military unit to aid Sri Lanka in its civil war with the LTTE. The Tamil Tigers, led by Velupillai Prabhakaran, sought to avenge alleged abuses by the IPKF, identifying Gandhi as a high-value target of their rage.

The Hunt, adapted from Anirudhya Mitra’s non-fiction book Ninety Days: The True Story of the Hunt for Rajiv Gandhi’s Assassins, begins on Gandhi’s last day. Gandhi (Rajiv Kumar) arrives in Sriperumbudur late into the night. A group of Tamil Tigers, led by the one-eyed Sivarasan (Shafeeq Mustafa), is...

Read more

News